October and the Root Goblins

As September turned to October I began to notice an alarming trend; Hootie Pie’s roots were dying off very quickly. Were they too wet? Were they too dry? In this photo, her roots are mostly brown and many were becoming mushy. When orchid roots become mushy, it means the velamen that covers the actual root is dead and incapable of storing water. In Water Culture, dead organic material must be removes or it will foul the water, so those roots had to be cut off.

By the beginning of October, most of her roots were gone and she was terribly dehydrated. I tried keeping her in an open pot with plenty of ventilation – no improvement. I tried basketing her with a heavy misting of her roots twice a day – no improvement. It was warm and humid, so I hung her basket outside and even added sphagnum moss to hold water on her roots – no improvement. It seemed like no matter what I did, she remained dehydrated and nothing I did seemed to help.